#ilearnsomuch

[floralgothpersephone]

Took my boy to the WWII Museum in New Orleans because his heart belongs to planes first and me second and I'm pretty okay with that. #myboylovesplanes #andilovemyboy #soigoseeplaneswithhim #andlistentohimtalkallday #ilearnsomuch #lookhowhappyheis #admiringNewOrleans (at World War II Museum - New Orleans)

[thevegavoyage-blog]

Jaime! The birthday boy we celebrated tonight!! I enjoyed our night out and most especially our conversations with him & all of his friends! A small little factoid about Jaime-he was the first person we met here in Spain (he picked us up from the airport!)! ☺️ Birthday celebrations are handled completely different here. Back home, one might dread a birthday for the fear of getting older. Here in Spain, one might dread a birthday in fear of going broke! So tonight we were invited by Jaime, to celebrate his birthday. Not only did I feel special to be invited to celebrate this special day with him, but I was also looking forward to the opportunity to celebrate at a Mexican restaurant with Mariachi! The food & music were amazing, and the conversations were so interesting to me. I sat next to a man, who was born and raised here in Spain, who is a teacher at a Concertado. A Concertado is a school that is partially funded by the government and partially funded by the parents. So this means that there are private schools, public schools and concertados here. This man has been teaching English at a Concertado, high school students 14-16 year olds, for 21 years!! As an educator, as you could imagine, I loved hearing his educational journey and his acquisition of English! So Emilio has been a teacher for 21 years & has a doctorate degree. He speaks English so well, even speaks with a British accent, that I just had to learn more about him… This man & his wife both speak English and every two years vacation to various locations in the United States with their two daughters. They’re not fans of L.A. (just not impressed), but LOVED Las Vegas & San Francisco. He studied English for many years in the U.K. & even has a British accent! His daughters speak 5 languages!! Spanish, English, German, Chinese and she’s currently studying French with her mother at a local university. Wow. I’m just blown away. Meanwhile, back in the United States all you hear is, “you’re in America, speak in English!” 😒 I learned so many things from these two individuals, most especially their perspective on our politics 😂 (by the way-neither are Hilary fans-both believe that if we want to be respected again, it would be with Trump 😳)…. But I digress… One of the most interesting things we learned from them was about birthdays. So as we are enjoying the night, with roughly 15-20 people, Hubby & I cannot help but notice how that at some point when a guest leaves, they just leave. No one settled their check before leaving. No one left some money before leaving. They just left. I couldn’t help but think… How rude! Well in talking with my new friends, I learned that in Spanish culture it is customary that the birthday person (who invites the guests to celebrate) is responsible for paying for the entire evening!!! 😱 So since Jaime invited his friends to celebrate, he has to pay the tab. Of course, we felt guilty having him assume the bill, so we gave him some money, but he was reluctant. Our new friends thought it was strange how back home we would “gift” the birthday person with a paid meal, night out (in addition to gifts), but then again I thought it was strange how the birthday person gifted his friends for attending his birthday party. This is still something I cannot wrap my mind around… Although, I must admit, it was so easy not having to calculate whose margarita (& how many) belonged on whose tab…not having to worry about a tip or a gratuity bill!!! I guess in America, at times it pays to have a birthday! Just remind me to NOT do anything for my birthday this year & if I do-only invite Americans. 😂 #birthdayshenanigans LivinginSpain🇪🇸 #FelizCumpleaños #iLOVEchattingwithlocals #ilearnsomuch